Many of today's liquid laundry detergent compositions are formulated to deliver superior removal of grease, soils, and other stains. However, many customers still prefer to use specialist pretreat compositions, even though liquid laundry detergent compositions are often formulated for pretreating stains.
A big cause for this customer behaviour is that dosing devices, typically sold with liquid laundry detergent compositions, are less than satisfactory for use in pretreating, except for light and non-greasy stains. The dosing devices are often also not intuitive to use, with many customers not even being aware that they can be used for pretreating stains. Even if the customer does pretreat stains using the liquid detergent composition, the customer will typically pour a small amount of the liquid detergent composition onto the fabric, before rubbing, either with another part of the fabric, or with the dosing device. The result is that while a portion of the liquid detergent composition that is used for pretreating penetrates the fabric stain, a significant proportion is pushed over the fabric and away from the stain. This results in much of the liquid laundry detergent composition that is intended for pretreating, not penetrating all of the fabric stain, but instead being transferred to unstained regions that do not require pretreating. This is particularly a problem for stains such as grease, where the hydrophobic nature of the stain makes it even more difficult for the liquid detergent composition to penetrate the fabric. The result is less than desired stain removal, particularly at low temperatures, since much of the stain removing actives are not able to work directly on the stain during pretreating. In addition, the heavy scrubbing that is generally required to ensure good liquid laundry detergent penetration into stains, particularly greasy stains, can damage the surface of delicate fabrics. Consequently, customers rarely use current dosing devices for pretreating delicate fabrics such as silks and rayon.
Therefore, a need remains for a pretreating device, and method, that is intuitive for the customer, ensures good penetration of the liquid laundry detergent composition into a stain, particularly greasy stains, and is suitable for washing delicate fabrics, particularly at low temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,209 discloses a closure for a liquid laundry detergent container having an integrated brush, U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,298 discloses a dispenser with an integrated scrubbing surface and pretreat nozzle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,034 discloses a cap to a spray bottle having an integrated scrubber. U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,190 discloses a hand-held container for washing laundry. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,630 discloses a cap having a pouring spout. GB 2 168 931 discloses a cap having an applicator.